County politics are often overlooked in the unending barrage of political information, so why should you care? The people who work for the county are your neighbors, friends, relatives, old school chums, or your children or grandchildren attend the same schools as theirs, perhaps they go to your church or shop in the same stores, eat at the same restaurants, in other words, they are like us.

As you may know, the political power struggle between the Belknap County Delegation's Executive Committee and the Belknap County Commission has put our county employees in yet another unnecessary situation. The latest development is that the county is telling these employees that they must pay the county portion of their medical insurance premium in addition to the employee portion.

The starting hourly wage for a full-time licensed nurses aide is $12.80 plus benefits, or $26,624. a year. If these workers require a family medical plan (three or more members) the cost will be $889.50 a month for November and December and perhaps beyond. With their low wages, they already qualify for the New Hampshire Health Protection Program provided through Medicaid. Is it the intent of the executive committee, to force these full-time workers and their families onto Medicaid? The committee has already denied them their 1.5 percent raise. Once again it isn't about lack of funds, it is about power, political power.

The public is invited to the finance committees meeting on Monday, Oct. 27, where the decision to fund the employee's health insurance will be decided.

We believe that here in Belknap County people respect each other, we keep commitments, we appreciate those who work for us, and we don't use them as pawns in nasty political games. We are better than that. Please don't tune out this issue ... vote to end this expensive legal fiasco.

As the former Town Clerk/Tax Collector for 26 years from Sanbornton, I have not only had the honor to serve Brian Gallagher as a resident, but work with Brian as he was an elected official on the Town's Budget Committee for several years.

Brian will listen to the concerns and needs of Sanbornton and Tilton residents and bring our issues to Concord. Brian is very respected in the community and I trust him to vote on issues in Concord that benefits both Sanbornton and Tilton. Please Sanbornton and Tilton residents, vote for Brian Gallagher as our state representative on Nov. 4.

It is indeed a sad sight to see the Hathaway House on Union Avenue in Laconia in the process of being demolished. However, the time for public outcry is not when the demolition crew arrives, and in reality, the time has long passed. Cookie cutter stores may be offensive, but those represent the trend in modern architecture and are what gain approval from local municipalities.

My family and I will not be boycotting the Dunkin' Donut stores owned by Cafua Management. The company is highly successful and pays large amounts of tax dollars to the city of Laconia. Those tax dollars are needed to fund city departments such as fire, police, and public works.

Deed research shows that Cafua Management took possession of the Hathaway House and the surrounding land on Aug. 16, 2000. Almost immediately, plans for the proposed use of the property were prepared by a local company and then presented to the city of Laconia. The plans show an adaptive use of the Hathaway House, which would have kept the outward appearance of the house and utilized the inside and a new addition as a Dunkin' Donuts store. This proposal from Cafua Management reveals that the company was not planning on demolishing the historic structure but in fact wanted very much to use it. Up until several years ago, the company utilized the building as office space for its employees.

What happened since this property was purchased and the arrival of a demolition crew at the parking lot of the Hathaway House? Research could be done to discover what transpired between the time those initial plans were submitted until present day. It would be time well spent — we might learn from what happened with this property and hopefully be able to prevent this kind of result from being repeated in the future. The decision to demolish the Hathaway House didn't just happen, and there have been attempts to save it.

My daughter, Sarah, began an effort to preserve the Hathaway House about a year ago. She was 18 years old at the time and was determined to save the building. She researched the full history of the property and came up with a viable plan to save it, which she presented to Cafua Management. Officials from the company took her seriously and consistently made time for conversations via phone and at no time told her to stop working on her plan. The plan outlined the transportation of the house to another site as well as its proposed uses after its move.

She formed a new organization called Historic Lakes Region, gathered interested individuals who were willing to sit on its board of directors, and obtained permission from a non-profit in Laconia to have that organization act as a fiscal agent until the new organization could gain its 501(c)(3) status. Quotes from Public Service of New Hampshire and FairPoint were obtained for the price of dropping power and cable lines during the transportation, and a company that specializes in moving large structures had also submitted a quote. There had been conversations with property owners who had vacant lots or building lots for sale — all within the vicinity of the Hathaway House.

It was a plan that could have worked and had the support of many. The discovery of a demolition crew at the Hathaway House did not surprise my daughter. The clock had simply run out. She e-mailed Cafua Management, told them that she had hoped for a different outcome, but respected their decision. She remains respectful of the company and has since notified all the individuals who had been involved in this great effort and has thanked them for their support.

The ideal time for planning for the preservation and restoration of a historic property can hopefully begin before there is a threat of demolition. Historic preservation is a specialized field, but it is not so specialized that it cannot be carried out by members of the general public who are willing to educate themselves on the proper procedures of preservation and who are willing to give of their time.

Picketing, boycotting, and Facebook rants do not save historic buildings, nor are those things on the list of steps that can be taken to preserve a structure that has significance to a community.

If those cookie cutter stores are offensive to some, those same individuals can easily become involved in community efforts to preserve historic structures whose appearance goes far beyond cookie cutter.

All of us hold a tremendous amount of power to make positive changes, but that requires each of us to get directly involved with our local communities, and it requires a willingness to volunteer our time to work on worthy projects. If we are content to just sit on the sidelines, we will be witness to far more demolitions than just Laconia's Hathaway House.

During Tuesday night's cable-televised debate, Scott Brown answered that he's running for U.S. Senator in New Hampshire because he lives here. Inquiring minds would like to know how many weeks he has lived here and how long he has been a registered voter in his town of residence in New Hampshire?

Senator Shaheen is also not a native, but she has lived here and served us long and well in the New Hampshire Legislature, as governor for multiple terms and for one term in the U.S. Senate in Washington. It is no secret that Scott Brown served and was defeated in Massachusetts before turning to New Hampshire. Sen. Shaheen said it best when she considered aloud the various opportunities candidate Brown has had to run for office again in Massachusetts before deciding to move north to run in New Hampshire and then said loud and clear, "New Hampshire is not a consolation prize."

Sen. Shaheen has championed New Hampshire in in Washington. Truly, our Senate seat is no consolation prize. New Hampshire voters know that throughout her career, Jeanne Shaheen has always put New Hampshire citizens first. Returning Sen. Shaheen to Washington is our best choice.

"In a time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act" — a quote by George Orwell, famed author of "1984." To neglect the truth without investigating the significance, reasoning, and the critical thinking can be a false flag against a person. Let that sink in for a moment.

I have known Glenn Cordelli for a number of years. He is steadfast, honest and ultimately successful in his pursuit of the truth. He is a great state representative and follows the rule of law, the N.H. Constitution, and the U.S. Constitution. I have watched him at hearings in the Statehouse and have verbalized my concerns to him regarding issues. Glenn has always returned my phone calls and e-mails. I would encourage the residents of Tuftonboro, Sandwich, and Moultonboro to re-elect Glenn Cordelli as state representative.

I read a letter recently in The Daily Sun from Mr. John Morrissey of Moultonboro. His letter was filled with talking points. I know that he has done little to investigate the subject matter that he proclaims Rep. Glenn Coedelli voted against. Blanket statements were unacceptable when I was in school. One cannot and should not make statements without knowing the subject matter.

Does Mr. Morrissey know that Common Core Standards in our schools take away the critical thinking of our school children? Does he know the program teaches 2 plus 2 equals 5, and that it is okay to formulate a wrong answer instead of the correct one? I need to correct his statement that Common Core is a state-run curriculum. Common Core is a National School Standard curriculum, backed by Bill and Melinda Gates (Microsoft fame) along with extremely progressive educational groups. It started with "Race to the Top," which lured hungry schools into this program by promising over $4.3 billion for schools who applied for the grants from the federal government. These federal grants from the U.S. government usurp local control because when the schools take the money, they must adopt Common Core. This is a top-down program promoted by the federal government, to dumb down our educational system and experiment on the minds of our children.

A quote by William Shakespeare..."There is no Darkness...but Ignorance." I would encourage Mr. Morrissey to check these sites: www.youtube.com/ Stop Common Core in Georgia & TruthinAmericanEducation.com.

Medicaid expansion is another top-down program from federal government. It is an arm of Obamacare. To see Obamacare in action already, just look how the Veterans Administration used the "Death Panel" technique on our military. Our state should have never enacted Medicaid expansion — eventually the funds dry up and the taxpayers will be on the hook for paying the increased burden. Healthcare advocates are already warning of the unintended consequences of the huge increase in Medicaid enrollment for truly poor Americans, to say nothing about the fraud within the system. Sadly, Medicaid care is often inferior care.

Heart patients on Medicaid are less likely to receive angioplasty when they need it, and asthmatic children on Medicaid don't see specialists. In fact, few specialists in any field take Medicaid patients. A great educational book is "Beating Obamacare 2014 — author Betsey McCaughey, Ph.D.

What about the Minimum Wage Law? Glenn Cordelli voted against this law with good reason. Some facts that have been historically researched that Democrats won't bother telling Granite Staters are as follows.

Minimum wage laws hurt low-income workers the most, minimum wage laws will cause some workers' hours to be cut. Minimum wage laws will cause some businesses to decrease hiring as a result. Minimum wage laws are considered the most racist laws on the books. Minimum wage laws do not lift people out of poverty, and these laws give some unions an automatic increase in pay if their contracts are written allowing it. This bill will actually hurt the people they are pretending to care so much about. Go to http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/raising-minimum-wage-will-hurt-more-help.

Another talking point without investigation by Mr. Morrissey is the buffer zone around Planned Parenthood abortion clinics. I would encourage a phone call to Glenn, and I am sure he will enlighten his reasons for declining to give a "Yes" vote. One can also check the internet for the Buffer Zone Bill-N.H. I have researched this proposed bill, but it is not needed because New Hampshire already has a strong bill to address the issue.